Discovered by Patent Bolt, the Japanese filing dated in August 2011 (differing from its initial release in the Asian country in December of that year) suggests a version of the system that includes HDMI and ‘micro USB’ support at the base of the handheld product.

While it is suggested that this could just be an early design that never went into production, it has also been rumoured that this option has naturally been filed with an intention of use at some point, and would fit in with the Sony PlayStation 3, which has ample coverage for both HDMI and USB purposes.

These rumours have been helped further by the fact that the patent was ‘republished’ by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (dated 7 February 2013), suggesting a plan to incorporate such ports into a new edition of the touchscreen-enabled console.

However, another argument against offered is that there is also a previously-unseen port for a power lead, despite such a slot already existing, implying an alternative design that would also have to see changes elsewhere in order to be a realistic proposition. If such a product was released, then it would be doing do as an enhancement to the single ‘expansion port’ seen on current versions of the Vita, with the one slot used both for charging and for connecting the product to PS3 or PC via USB.

While it is celebrating a year in the North American market this week, have Sony revealed the possible future of the PS Vita, or is this just a glimpse of what might have been on the handheld console?